Call it synchronicity—everything aligning at once to create something new and meaningful. Or call it synergy—media professionals, educators and students in two very different places working to improve lives and connect people on opposite ends of the world. Whichever word you apply, it all boils down to a small, dedicated team with a lofty mission.
In the long-term, WOWi (Windows of Wonder Institute) aims to establish a Cambodian-run digital media school to provide youth with important 21st century skills. A successful two-week pilot project that took place in February, 2012, was merely the beginning of a multi-year effort.
The program used iPads and iPhones to create highly portable, handheld “digital media studios.” With these studios, students learned to shoot and edit videos describing their lives and telling stories as part of an exchange with students in Austin, Texas.
On the Cambodia side, the pilot targeted about 15 students at the Tchey School, supported by the Ponheary Ly Foundation School in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Ponheary Ly, a 2010 CNN Hero, survived the Khmer Rouge and has dedicated her life to educating Cambodian children. The foundation was created by Lori Carlson, originally from Austin and now living in Cambodia. Many of the students in the program had no more than a year or two of computer experience.
In Austin, students from both Connally High and Trinity Episcopal School participated in this exchange. Their mentors, David Conover — a digital media educator at Connally, and Sarah Venkatesh — a video producer and dancer from Trinity Episcopal — made the exchange possible.
The team on the ground in Cambodia consisted of Dr. Kim Smith (WOWi President): his wife Robin, a teacher; Keith Hajovsky—a travel consultant who was instrumental in putting this pilot together; Diana Gross, a digital media teacher already in Cambodia; Chad Chislom—a photographer from Denver; and Bill Hermanns, a Ponleary Ly volunteer and videographer from Los Angeles.
Their mission was to guide the students in creating and filming their own videos, while building valuable, transferable skills. After reviewing some video-making techniques, Dr. Smith and team introduced the class to Photoshop green screen techniques. Their first project, “I Travel…by Green Screen,” allowed the students to journey to places they had never been, such as Austin and their capital city, Phnom Penh. Seeing images of themselves in different places captured their imaginations so much that they started to experiment with this technique themselves.
This initial inspiration was not one-sided. Sarah Venkatesh’s students at Trinity Episcopal were delighted by the early updates that the team in Siem Reap had shared with her students and the project became all the more real for them.
Sarah’s enthusiasm was contagious, “I’ve been amazed by the photographs and videos Keith has been sending...We knew we were part of something very special, and we were all a little speechless.”
In the meantime, David Conover’s Connally High students shared several mini documentaries and developed a number of video games that may play a role in future classes and activities.
As the project progressed, budding videographers in Siem Reap selected video topics and carefully created storyboards and a shot list—the photos and videos that would make up their stories. With new skills and film planning in their back pockets, the students went out “on location” to start filming. On the final day they were back in the studio to edit the shots together into a cohesive whole.
Just as the young filmmakers were polishing their masterpieces, the Angkor Wat International Film Festival was in full swing in Siem Reap. The project’s grand finale was a visit to the festival, where students saw two films and took their rightful places in the red carpet area, hamming it up like film stars.
Hopefully, this is only the beginning of the fun and success they will have as they discover their talents and hone their skills. The WOWi team plans a return trip to Siem Reap in November to open the doors of a WOWi Institute to train Cambodian youth to create, manage and distribute digital media.
Learn more about the project at www.wowi-austin.org
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